Schell Brothers planning new division in Richmond, Virginia

Schell Brothers homebuilding company is preparing to open a division in Richmond, Va. Company President Chris Schell said It will be the first operation outside Delaware, where it builds homes in Sussex County and in the Middletown area of New Castle County. It will also be Schell’s first attempt to transfer his company’s culture of happiness to another operation.

“Our partner in Richmond will be a builder named Shane Burnette. He really loves our company culture and came up to pick our brains to see how he might make it work in Richmond. He’s spent a lot of time with us to feel the culture. He and others with him were intrigued with what we do, and we thought they were good. When they suggested running a Schell Brothers division in Richmond, we decided to give it a try. I hope our partners will be able to perpetuate the culture we have developed. I think our culture of happiness is our No. 1 advantage. If we can’t transfer the culture, what are our chances of success?”

Schell said the new Richmond division will begin with about eight employees, including Burnette and Construction Manager Chris Yurisic, who has experience building in the Richmond area. The new Schell Brothers division, Schell said, will begin with houses in two developments that are underway. “We want to start there and prove our viability. Richmond wouldn’t have been our first choice for a new division. Charleston, South Carolina would have been. But when Burnette made a web inquiry it started to look good to us.”

Schell said Richmond is stuck, from a homebuilding perspective, in a place about 15 years ago. “Specifications and floor plans are older style. Energy efficiency is not a big deal. They don’t know much about solar. I think we will force other builders in Richmond to step up their game. There are plenty of wealthier yuppies in that growing market who want a nicer home. I give Shane a good chance. I know how much he loves our culture, and he really wants to be an ambassador. That culture involves employees knowing they have the full support of Schell Brothers if they need it. It’s about employees building a life, providing for their families, finding fulfillment. It’s not just for me,” said Schell, “It’s for everyone. I’m happy if they’re happy. It’s good for my own happiness. We spend a lot of money building that support. We’re a team, and how each member contributes is what we do.”

2015 was company’s strongest year

Schell Brothers and its affiliate companies including Echelon Custom Homes, Clean Energy USA, Home Innovations, Creative Courtyards and Echelon Interiors employ in the vicinity of 170 people. Working together, the employees, said Schell, delivered more than 350 new homes in 2015, the company’s best year since it formed in 2003.

Prior to that, Schell and his young family were living in the Severna Park area of Maryland where he was operating a hedge fund business. “I was miserable before Schell Brothers,” he said. “I like managing people. It's where I get happiness. Hedge funds are not a people business at all. Sitting in a darkened room all day so you could watch multiple screens and numbers changing. Yes, I was on my way to making good money and had bought into the classic American concept that success meant making good money and being able to afford nice things. But one night I woke up on the verge of a panic attack and realized that the reward I expected wasn’t there. I was not one bit happier than before I had money. Material items do bring excitement, but it doesn’t last. It was then I decided to commit to happiness. Schell Brothers is committed to happiness because of what happened to me. We have that mission because of how we started. Some people think I’m full of it, but that’s the truth. All questions have to ultimately be answered by ‘Because I want to be happy.’”

Schell said he started reading books and journals about happiness. “I realized that the most fulfilling, longest-lasting happiness comes from helping others.”

Living in a new development, Schell found he was interested in the new homes being built. “I wanted to do something that would elicit an emotional response from people ­- something that mattered. You can’t mess around with someone’s home. There’s potential to bring happiness, but also potential to make for a real bad day. People spend three to five years of their annual income to do it right. You don’t dabble in homebuilding.”

Thirteen years and a month later, Schell is still happy with his decision to start over. He designs all of the houses that Schell Brothers constructs, follows his own instincts, remains committed to the quality underlying the homes, has done away with formal dining and living rooms to make way for “oversized nooks” and expanded mud rooms and pantries, and he is in the process now of designing homes as small as 1,200 square feet. “The difference between us and the other luxury homebuilders like Toll Brothers is that we don't have to build the largest.”

For a number of years, Schell said, he resisted requests from other builders and investors to expand to other parts of the country, such as Florida. “I promised myself that I would always focus on maximizing my own happiness and that meant building our culture here. I knew that if I tried to do too much too fast I would go backward. But we’re better prepared now. Our people, our processes, our software are all better.

“We’re ready to make the move to Richmond now ... more than ready.”